The Battle of Light and Dark
by notecrafter
Summary: In the life of Percy and Annabeth, just like any other relationship, there are highs and lows, dark days and light ones. Just like in any other relationship, their legacy as a couple lives on long after they're gone. This is Percy and Annabeth's life and legacy, and the story of everyone they have come to love. *PM ME FOR UPDATES*
1. I'm Only Human

**A/N: THIS STORY WAS PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS A SERIES PF HIGH AND LOW MOMENTS, BIT I CHANGED THE TITTLE TO "THE BATTLE OF LIGHT AND DARK" FOR OBVIOUS REASONS**

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**"And I bleed when I fall down**  
**I'm only human**  
**And I crash and I break down"**

**Christina Perri, "Human"**

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**"Funny how the good ones go  
Too soon, but the good lord knows  
The reasons why it gets  
Sometimes the greater plan is kinda hard to understand  
Right now it don't make sense  
I can't make it all make sense"**

**Luke Bryan, "Drink a Beer"**

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**A/N: This will be sad. If you can't handle very sad things, please, don't continue.**

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**Percy's POV**

I had a hole in my chest that would never, ever close up. I was a bottomless pit, Tartarus had nothing on me. Despair and depression happens when you lose the person that's been you r other half for so long. She's been my everything for 60 years, and I've known her for even longer. She was my friend, my family, my enemy, my lover. Everything. When our daughter was born my heart didn't split in two, it grew to fit them both. My mother was my wisdom, my girlfriend and later my wife was my support and my love, and my daughter was my happiness and a reminder of my childhood self. I couldn't live without any of them.

When my mother died it took a year to feel like myself again. One of the only reasons why I managed to climb out of my hole, was my four year old daughter.

"Daddy, you gonna be 'kay. We gots to be happy! Smile Dadda! Do it! I'm demhandin' you!" Her lovableness brought light to my darkness. My wife helped me more than I can express.

My wife! I started to cry harder. Seeing the dismal black clothes and faces was just too much to bare. Slow, gentle music played from the speakers and the casket sat at the front of the room. It loomed over me like the many monsters I defeated. I may be an old man, but I still have some fight left in me. So I will defeat this demon. Annabeth deserves a final goodbye. Oh, my wise girl! Even as her hair turned gray I saw her bouncy blond curls, and her stormy grey eyes always stayed the same, forever reflecting her mother, of a past that left a mark on us forever. We taught our daughter Greek. When she turned fifteen, we told her of our past.

We named our daughter the Greek word for sunrise, ανατολή, Anatolí in English. We called her Ana. When she grew into her shiny personality, I called her 'my little sunshine' because the sun seemed to reflect in her sea-green eyes. When she was sad her curly blond hair hid her face and those teary green eyes like a cloud covering the sun on a rainy day.

The roll of the eyes my wife always did when I played princess with our daughter always made me laugh. I would get a thousand more head aches from that stupid tiny tiara if I could see that adoring look on my wife's face when she thought I wasn't looking.

I would wear that stupid tutu and sit in that little tiny chair two thousand more times if I meant I could hear that, sweet, innocent, laughter my daughter produced when I sat on "her imaginary friend Gianna". All the happiness floated in my mind, but didn't reach my heart, where it desperately needed to light up that dark, lonely bottomless place. My daughter walked over to me and handed my a tissue box she was using. She was now 45, her husband, Mike, followed closely behind her.

They had tried to have kids five years ago, but they learned that they couldn't. They have been wanting to adopt, but they haven't because they were still recovering from the drama of being told they couldn't have their own child.

"Sunshine." I said softly as Ana melted into my arms.

"Hey Daddy." She said. I then melted into her arms. We traded roles. For the first time since my mother died, my daughter was doing the hugging, and I was the one being held.

"Anatolí Sally Jackson, I love you." I told her. I only spoke her full name if I was yelling at her, or trying to tell her something very serious, and I am obviously not yelling now. She melted into me for the second time, and this time there was not supporting. There was only one clinging to another. One making the other stronger, one plus one equal two. I would be lost without my little sunrise, my little sunshine.

"Daddy, I already talked to mamma, it's time." Ana said was we pulled back I looked at her with tears in my eyes. I will defeat my demon and say farewell to my love.

"Okay." I said softly and blew my nose with the tissues my daughter gave me. She then blew her nose and whipped off her running mascara.

I walked up to the ominous casket and looked inside. Inside was a hollowed, stilled angel. She looked like her. She was wearing her dress and her owl earrings, but she was empty. Those glittering grey eyes were closed, that beautiful smile was absent from her beautiful face. So different yet so the same.

A tear fell from my cheek, and on to this angel's face. It fell on to her cheek and it looked like she was crying my tear. I could tell she was crying for me and her daughter, and what she did to the people she had to leave behind. My amazing wise girl would never be sad because she left something behind, she would be sad that they had to go through that pain because of her. She was so selfless.

Suddenly, words were found for my feelings. "She," I said in a shaky voice. I cleared my throat and tried again. "Annabeth was called many things. First, a daughter. Next, a friend, and three years later, a girlfriend." I paused and smiled to myself, those were the best days. But both worse and better was to come.

I wish the mortals weren't here at this moment, because Annabeth was so much more. Athena's daughter, architect, dagger wielder, demigod, hero, wise girl. I found the strength to continue.

"Then ten years later, because I'm an insecure, unsure idiot, she was a fiancée and then a wife." I said. Hey I'm sea weed brain, I have to give at least one joke a night. I got watery smiles in return. "I can hear Annabeth laughing above me." I mumbled. I took a deep breath, and willed myself to go on.

"When we got married, she was given all these new names. Daughter-in-law, married, joined by a ring. She looked so beautiful walking down that ile. She looked just as beautiful a week ago, too. Man, let me tell you, that honeymoon is burned into my mind."

"Three years later, she became a mother. When I put our beautiful daughter in her arms," I looked directly at Ana, "I had never seen the look in her eyes. The looks she gave me paled in comparison. It was beautiful, they both were." I said as silent tears fell down my face. Silent tears fell down my daughter's face as well.

"Through the years, I watched her grow, even while she was loosing inches. Every day she grew more beautiful, at least in my eyes. My only regret for her, is that..." The tears were overflowing now, I didn't know if I could continue. "Is that..." I tried again. Third times a charm. "Is that, I'm going to become a Grandfather in the future, and she's not going to be here to be a grandmother with me." I finished.

"Annabeth died in her sleep, beside me." I told them shakily. It's crazy that after fighting countless gods, giants, monsters, and titans my wife dies in her sleep. Crazy good. Thank the gods.

"I think it's more peaceful. I hope she was smiling when she left this world, thinking of her daughter, and holding my hand." I said as I sucked in a breath. I sat down as I watched them close the casket.

I prayed to all the gods I knew that she wore the chocker necklace that Ana gave her when she died. It was silver with a small chain with a silver infinity sign. In each loop was a small heart. Ana had said that "my love for you goes on for infinity." I also prayed that she had her Camp Half Blood necklace, which had my wedding band on it. Her wedding band matched mine, plain silver. Mine was a little thicker than hers. Both of our rings had the word "forever" engraved on the inside. That was the only word needed.

Selfishly, I hoped against all hope that she had my engagement ring on her left ring finger. Annabeth had begged me for the ring to be simple. It was perfectly polished silver with a fairly sized diamond surrounded by three aquamarine stones on each side. On the inside was engraved "Our love is immortal".

I hope she was wearing her mother's owl earrings. I hope she was wearing the bracelet her father gave her with Greek symbols and architect symbol charms. That she was holding the rose Mike, Ana's husband, gave her for Valentine's day. I prayed that she was wearing the necklace that had the symbol of Olympus on one side, and the symbol of Athena on the other. I know I never took of my matching necklace that night. Mine had the symbol of Olympus on one side, and then symbol of Poseidon on the other.

I hope she had on the rings her brothers gave her. One was a black heart from Bobby and one white heart from Matthew. Both has sister inscribed on the inside. They may have annoyed the heck out of her, but they were family through and through. Both were in their sixties now.

I prayed she had a bracelet on her other wrist, it had a charm from each of our friends. They included Thalia, Piper, Hazel, Nico, Frank, Jason, Grover, Chiron, Leo, Tyson, Ella, and Rachel, yes Rachel, and Reyna. Thirteen in total, deemed a lucky number. I had a matching, but more "manly" version of the same bracelet.

Finally, I hope she was wearing the two pins my mother and her mother both gave her, without knowing they were both giving her pins. The one my mother gave her was a silver leaf to symbolize prosperity. The one her mother gave her was also silver, and was a star, to symbolize staying happy or "staying high up in the sky like a star".

Everyone she ever knew made her who she is and was. Annabeth, wise girl, mom, my wife once told me that I made up the most of her, and I'm proud to be the person who got to shape this beautiful woman.

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**A/N The next chapter will be a different version of this chapter, what would happen if everything in this chapter was exactly the same, except Percy dies and Annabeth was left behind.**


	2. In Loving Memory

**You still live in me I feel you in the wind**

**You guide me constantly I never knew what it was to be alone, no ****'Cause you were always there for me ****You were always awaiting ****Now I come home and I miss your face so ****Smiling down on me**

**Alter Bridge, "In Loving Memory"**

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**A/N: So here is that exact opposite version of the last chapter, I'm Only Human. Again, extremely sad, stop reading if you couldn't handle I'm Only Human. Since all need-to-know knowledge was mentioned in the earlier chapter, this chapter will be less detailed.**

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**Annabeth's POV**

Percy... A gap in my life... My heart will never be whole again. You tear him from me and you tear away the very of existence of me. Without him I have no words, without him life has almost lost all meaning. That almost is thanks to my daughter. She's the reason to try to convince my self to at least try to stop sinking. She's not pulling me out of the dark...only he could do that. My daughter is helping me hover.

I hover in the darkness, I'm not going deeper because this amazing girl has the strength to smile for me even when there are tears in her eyes and I can barely stop rocking. Any minute now my savior is going to walk through that door and say "Aw man, I got you guys good! You really believed I was gone?"

I would walk up to him and punch him. I may be an old granny, but when I get mad enough I still have a good swing. I can still use a dagger, even though I might be a tad bit slower. After I punch and scream I would cry, hard. For a really long time. Trap him in a bear hug with as much strength as I could muster. I wouldn't let go for days, if I ever let go at all.

So I stared at the door, long and hard. I heard the shuffling feet, the sniffles. The faintest sound of the waves, I would not want to be Poseidon right now. Well, you want to be Annabeth least of all, and you're her. You're the wife that's either been mad at or in love with the man in the casket for 63 years. 63 years is a big number. I've been married to him for 50 of those 63 years. Most people don't get the kind of love we have, I should be counting my blessings that I had an angel for so long. Instead, all I think about is how I don't have him now.

He would rub my back, let me cry into his shirt. Take my face in his hands and kiss the tears away. Make me feel better. I've never cried this hard in my life. The one person that could ever console me from this amount of pain was the person I was crying for.

Quietly, my daughter walked over to me and sat next to me. She handed me the handkerchief I got her as a wedding present. Mike, my son-in-law, sat next to her. Ana rubbed my back, just like Percy would have done. I cried harder, I didn't know it was possible to cry harder than I already was. I'm glad I decided to not wear makeup, I knew I would cry it all off, even while I was putting it on.

"I know mamma, I know." She said to me as we hugged each other. What do you do when the only important man in your life has left you? How do you heal the wound, how do you bare the pain? You find someone who's going through the exact same thing and let them comfort you and comfort them as well. My daughter is my confident now. The person I call when I'm having a bad night and I need the sound of someone else's voice to remind me I'm not alone. I can no longer shake my husband awake so he can hold me in his arms.

My only option is to get out of the bed, which was at least warmer than the rest of the house. To walk down the hallway, hoping around on the cold tiles that remind me of the cold feeling in my chest, and pick up the phone in the kitchen. My only option is to dial my daughter's number, feeling guilty that I'm waking her and Mike up, hoping they realize it's me. I would never feel guilty waking my husband up because he told me long ago that waking up to me was the best feeling he ever had.

That wonderful man also told me he'd rather have four hours of sleep than having to wake up to me crying or screaming or whatever, without being woken up to help. That he'd rather be dog-tired in the morning than having me go through even one ounce of pain without him there to comfort me. Through the years, my love for him only grew. Watching him become a father made me love him in a whole new light, it made my heart glow even more. Ana made us closer, if that was even possible.

Through all this darkness, I see light. I see his sparkling green eyes and his warm arms and his soft words lulling me to sleep even after I've had the worst nightmare. Percy could see my crying, say one thing, and make me laugh. I remember we were dating and he whispered a joke in my ear at my grandfather's funeral and I started laughing through my tears. The look my grandmother gave Percy. She knew that Percy was the reason I was laughing, if he wasn't there, I would have been a depressed storm cloud of sadness.

My husband was my light. My something to look forward to after work because right after we got married, he would get up earlier than me, make me chocolate chip pancakes because they were my favorite, and put a rose de-thorn with a note on his pillow for me. He did that for a month.

After he stopped, since I came home earlier than him, I made him a fancy dinner with cloth napkins and candles and soft music and a flower center piece every night. I did that for a month. I had to stop because Percy had put on ten pounds and I had pit on twenty. Plus, the price of candles went up.

"Mommy, we're the two girls in his life, we have to go on. Momma, look at me." My daughter said to me as she pulled back from our hug and held my face in her hands. She kissed both of my cheeks, just like my husband would have done if I was crying. I started crying harder. I looked into my daughter's sea green eyes, they looked so much like her father's.

"Every time I look at you Ana, I see your father." I said quietly through my tears. My daughter sniffled.

"Every time I look at you, I imagine Dad's arm draped over your shoulders, or his hand in your hand. He was a part of you, and you were a part of him. Never let him go." My daughter said to me. I nodded to her.

"Go see him momma, he looks so handsome in his wedding tux." She said as she smiled at me.

I walked to the casket on jello legs. When I looked in, he was there. I could see his Camp Half Blood necklace around his neck. I saw the chain around his neck and pulled the medallion put of his shirt. I saw the beautifully carved trident on one side of the circular charm, and the symbol of Olympus on the other. I fingered my matching one. I set the necklace back down on to his chest, and could see a little tree charm poking out of his sleeve. I smiled to myself.

His bracelet had a charm for each of our thirteen friends, the tree was Grover's. Right above his wrist was the cuff links his father Poseidon gave him. They had waves engraved in them. They were made of Celestial Bronze, polished to look like 24 karot gold. He also had on the blue tie Paul gave him for our wedding. It was dark blue and matched my wedding dress that night.

His eyes were closed. Those sea green eyes that used to glitter at me like stars were closed. That's a crime in its self. My breath was stolen from me, because he was my breath. A day didn't go by that I didn't say I love you to him. The crazy thing was that every day before, saying I love to my sea weed brain was as natural and easy as breathing. Now, I couldn't even say his name. My heart was decomposing. I just kneeled in front of the casket and held my medallion while fingering my engagement ring.

I prayed to Athena and Poseidon. Then I prayed to the rest of Olympians I knew. If anyone deserved Elysium, it was Percy. There wasn't a demigod out there who could whip a sword around like him, move whole lakes and draw water from deep in the ground in the middle of the desert. He wasn't perfect, he could be blind sometimes. After all, it did take him three years to realize sea weed brain was sad with affection.

Percy died in his sleep, beside me. More peaceful. I am thankful that the look on his face when he left was one of peace, rather than one of struggle. He lived a long, happy life and he went peacefully. I am grateful for every day that passes that Percy never died young. It would have been a heroes death, but he would have deserved so much more. So I thank every god and goddess that Percy got to live a life of peace beside me, for that is all I ever asked for him, to be happy.

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**A/N: Next we will go back in time and re-live the death of Sally, Percy's mother. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't worry, not all of my chapters will be sad, so hang in with me.**


	3. One Less Angel

**A/N: Thank you nb4life for giving me the idea that after the demigods defeat Gaea the seven could be granted one wish by the gods and that some would choose a normal life without the gods. So in this story Percy and Annabeth chose to have a normal life together. The gods, including their parents, only visit when they get married, when they have Anatolí, and when their parents die.**

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**Well you only need the light when it's burning low**  
**Only miss the sun when it starts to snow**  
**Only know you love her when you let her go**

**Only know you've been high when you're feeling low**  
**Only hate the road when you're missin' home**  
**Only know you love her when you let her go**

**Passenger, "Let Her Go"**

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**Where there is no struggle, there is no strength. ~Oprah Winfrey**

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**Because someone we love is in heaven... there is a little bit off heaven in our home.**

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**Percy's POV **

_I never thought my mom would die young, that my daughter would be only four. That my mom would be only fifty-five. That's thirty some odd years, gone. Floating away on the wind. Lost, forever. My mom is no longer with me. I should have donated to Roswell, should have done that run. Done something, anything. It never affected me, so I didn't worry about it. Funny how you never think about something or truly appreciate someone after it's or they're gone. We really need to just put on our big boy pants and solve this thing, so sons and daughters and husbands and wives and granddaughters and grandsons don't have to go through the pain I'm going through. Cure this thing so little four-year-old girls don't have to be so naïve._

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when she and Paul were fifty-three. They had been married for ten years. The doctor told her the news when Annabeth and I were thirty, and Ana was two. My mother, being the strong women that she was, fought the battle for two years. Those years were full of heart-break and struggles for everybody. Annabeth and I helped financially when we could. If I had never seen how much Paul loved my mother, I saw it then.

I would be a bystander to him combusting, burning up inside, facing death in the face just as much as my mother was. My mother never deserved this, neither did Paul, neither did Ana, and neither did Annabeth. In a selfish way I never deserved this either. I fought good and hard and saved the world countless times, but the Fates decided to cut my mother's string just a little too early for my taste.

I can't control everything, though. I couldn't whip out riptide and force my father to somehow cure her. Despite the pain in his eyes every time he would visit my mother in the hospital, I knew he could do nothing about it. Zeus wouldn't allow it. After my mother breathed her last breath, my daughter still called Paul grandpa, she still called Poseidon pops or daddy or whatever else came to her mind. Ana, little Ana, knew that Poseidon was someone to trust, someone she could be close to if she wanted to, but I never forced her.

As the years progressed, she accepted that she in a sense had two grandpas. Life was good to her that way, but life cheated her because she didn't get to have an actual grandmother. Annabeth's step mom was never Annabeth's mom, so how could she be Ana's grandmother if she isn't even a mother first? The only real grandmother that Ana might have had lost the battle of life when she was just too young.

When my mother died, everyone missed her, the whole camp felt bad for me, all the gods bowed their heads in silence as they listens to Poseidon cry salty tears made of the oceans of the world. Annabeth just hugged me, sniffling. She never said a word unless I asked her. Annabeth was someone I loved who had loved my mother, and that meant the world to me. For a week after my mother laid down her head, I couldn't even look at my daughter. All I saw in that little girl was _granddaughter._ Day in, day out, for seven days. Annabeth got worried.

"Baby?" She asked me quietly after she had tucked our four-year-old daughter in bed.

"How come you can't spend time with your daughter anymore? I know it's hard, but that doesn't mean you should ignore her." Annabeth lectured me, gently. She knew I couldn't handle anything close to shouting right now.

"I'm not ignoring her baby." I told her in a weak, wobbly voice. "Every time I look at her I think of calling her 'granddaughter' and I lose it. I-it's too painful... I'm too high-strung, I can't get her face out of my mind, can't stop picturing her frail, emancipated chest stilled. I even see her in you, when you get that worried look in your eyes, just like my mom would... I can bare the pain of seeing her in you because I know the pain of not having you will be so much poor painful than the ghost of the pain I feel when I catch only a glimmer of her." My voice was shaking badly now, the words tumbling out like a waterfall, unable to stop.

"When I look at Ana, it's like she's standing right beside her. I go right back to her in the delivery room, smiling at the little baby in your arms. I've grown dependent on Ana already, and it hurts to be away from her. I want to feel okay again." I tell Annabeth as I shake in her arms. She wraps me up in blankets and hushes me when I start sobbing.

"It's going to take a while to feel okay again. You may never feel quite the same again. You don't need to get over your mother, you need to accept that she's gone. To accept that she's out of reach. Percy, you need to find the strength to talk your daughter again. I have a feeling it is going to do more good than harm." Annabeth tells me as she wraps me in her arms, inside the blankets with me.

I sob, heart-broken. I love my beautiful daughter so much...

"I'm going to watch her sleep." I tell Annabeth as I stand up shakily.

"Get some sleep." I instruct her as I start to make my way over to the door. I open the door and flinch when I hear the door creak open, I don't want to wake Ana up. I pad down the cold laminate floor towards my daughter's room. It takes me ten steps at most to get to her door, our apartment is small.

I quietly open the door and look at Ana's sleeping form. She's laying on her left side so she's facing away from me. I walk to the other side of the bed. Her face glows in the moonlight where my shadow doesn't fall on her. She's looks angelic.

It feels like someone has put a band around my chest, so I can only take short, quick breaths. I feel like someone is breaking my ribs and squeezing my heart at the same time. They look so much a like. My mother is in Ana's nose, just like my nose. Annabeth is in her cheek bones and her hair. Her blond wavy hair is fanned out on the pillow.

Her hair reaches just past her shoulders and it is more wavy like my hair than it is curly like Annabeth's. I can't believe that this is my daughter. That I managed to create something that captured the beauty of everyone I loved. Even though her eyes were closed I still know they're the most beautiful sea green. It looks like someone poured the Carribean into my daughter's eyes.

I got down on my knees and gently brushed the hair out of my daughter's eyes. She squirmed and burrowed deeper into her warm blanket, squeezing her teddy bear until its eyes were bulging. The teddy bear was a gift from Poseidon, the eyes were made out of glass and they reflected the ocean. Whenever Ana was mad and holding her teddy bear the splashing waves in the teddy bear's eyes would start to boil and churn, turning into a raging hurricane.

When she was depressed or sad it would rain lightly and everything would turn gray. I loved when she was a happy because the teddy bear's eyes showed a bright and sunny coral reef. It was when she was happy that Ana and her teddy bear had the same eyes.

The gods may be done with us, but every now and then the sound of wind outside our kitchen window would sound like waves and I would smell the beach, and for a moment, my father was with me again.

I'll always be Poseidon's son, but now I am Ana's father and Annabeth's husband which have become more important.

My life as a hero made me who I am but I would never trade one day with my two girls for even one hundred days of fighting and war.

I just wish I had three girls instead of two. I sit on my heels and bury my head in my daughter's warm, soft blankets, and cried. I cry silently into the picture of Hello Kitty printed on the fuzzy blanket. I could never imagine a world without my mother. Now the world doesn't have her. One less angel.

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**A/N: So as previously seen, this story will not go in order time wise. The next chapter we will be going back even further to Percy proposing to Annabeth when they are both 24. I thought it would be kind of hard for Percy and Annabeth to sort out their feelings for each other when saving each other's lives was taken out of the equation. They had to live in different towns for a while beecause of Annabeth's stubboorn family. Think about it, they went from protecting each other in battle to having no clue what to do together on a Saturday night. **

**So I hope you guys will cry happy tears instead of sad ones when you read Percy proposing to Annabeth.**

**Random question, if you could choose your favorite thing about Percy and Annabeth as a couple, what would it be? Answer in your review please or pm me. Reviews are wonderful!**


	4. For Years and Years to Come

**Heart beats fast Colors and promises How to be brave How can I love when I'm afraid to fall But watching you stand alone All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow One step closer I have died everyday waiting for you Darling don't be afraid I have loved you For a thousand years I'll love you for a thousand more Time stands still Beauty in all she is I will be brave I will not let anything take away What's standing in front of me Every breath Every hour has come to this**

**Christina Perri, "A Thousand Years"**

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**A/N: Wow, I can't believe how long this chapter is! Okay I just want to clear something up real quick. Like major oops, stupid technicalities. So I said that Percy and Annabeth got married when they were 25, yet they started dating when they were 15. I'm just going to say this now in order to avoid further confusion (skip if you are fine with just finding out in the reading) : _After the Seven defeated Gaea, each were granted a wish. Percy and Annabeth chose for a life of peace from the "tedious" world of gods, goddesses, and monsters. The gods asked them to wait five years, predicting a lengthy calm after those five years. Due to Percy and Annabeth constantly saving the day, there was little room left for big changes like marriage. By the time things were winding down, they were both 24. _**

**Percy's POV**

"I'm just so happy that you and Annabeth are finally taking the next step in your relationship Percy. I know it could have been sooner, and it should have been sooner too, but I guess the gods just needed you for a little bit longer." My mother told me as she kissed me on the cheek. She then shooed me out the door.

"Good luck with Mr. Chase. I'm sure he'll be happy to say yes." My mother told me as she closed the door. I jumped into my car and took the short drive to Annabeth's family's house.

Mr. Chase answered the door looking tired, and slightly confused. His tie was half off and he didn't have his jacket on.

"Percy! What brings you here? How's Annabeth?" he asked me as he let me in with a swoop of his hand. He closed the door behind me, leading me to the small table in the kitchen.

"Annabeth's good." I tell him as I sit down. He threads his fingers together and puts both hands on the table.

"So, what are here to talk to me about?" He asks me. I wipe my sweaty hands on my jeans. Suddenly I am struck with nervousness that is upsetting my stomachs with its intensity.

"Uhhh... I was wondering if I could have your blessing to marry your daughter." I manage to strangle out. I look up hesitantly to find Mr. Chase smiling at me warmly.

"Of course Percy, I always knew this day would come. You protected Annabeth ever since you met her, and love grew out of friendship. Your love is the best kind. I'd be foolish to say no." My hopefully soon to be father in law tells me, with a proud look in his eyes.

We stand up and shake hands. He pats me on the back. "Take good care of her Percy, even though I know you will. You've cared for her for years now, and all I could ever ask from use is your love and care for my daughter. You put a light in her eyes. You make my daughter feel alive and whole again. Thank you." He tells me as he walks me to the door.

Before he closes the door, he calls out to me.

"When are you proposing?" Mr. Chase asks me. I stop in the middle of the walkway.

"Tonight." I answer with a grin that is sure to split my face. He nods at me.

**Annabeth's POV**

How long does it take to have dinner with your mom? I'm sitting in my room, reading a book I just got from the library. I struggle to focus on the characters, knowing that Percy will come at any minute. Somehow, the next sentence catches my eye. I immediately recognize a plot twist, and it's a good one.

_Plink!...Plunk!...Ping!...Pong!... It sounds like someone is throwing something at my window... _Was my thoughts as I withdrew from my book. I pull back the curtain and look out the window to find Percy. Sitting on the hood of his truck, with the headlights pointing straight at my window. Throwing rocks at my window. _How did I not notice?_ I ask as a bubbly smiles pops on to my face.

He makes a motion for me to open my window, instead of just going downstairs to greet him. I open my window, keeping the screen in so I'm at least half way assured that I won't fall two stories high.

"What are you doing Percy? Are you crazy?" I scream at him, bewildered. _Just think, he's actually throwing rocks out my window. How much more romantic can it get?_

"I am crazy Annabeth... I'm crazy for you baby." Percy said to me, I could see the look in his eyes all the way from here, and what I found in those sea green eyes made my knees feel weak. I clung to the window sill, biting my lip and then clearing my throat several times.

"Annabeth, I love you." Percy continued, with that crooked grin I loved so much. "I'm going to keep loving you for as long as I live. I want to be with you forever. I want to call you mine, wise girl. I don't ever want to let you go." Percy said.

He then climbed down from the roof of his truck, standing in front of his headlights. Percy looked as if he was surrounded with a halo of light. His face darkened with shadows, but I didn't care. I already had every aspect of him burned into my brain. Every little eye twinkle, each and every lip twitch. He slowly lowered himself to his knee, a black box in his hand.

_Oh my gods... _I was gripping the window sill with a death grip, my knees were wobbling and knocking with a force now.

"Annabeth Chase, you complete me. Please tell me you'll never leave me. Annabeth, wise girl, daughter of Athena, keeper of my heart, will you marry me?" Percy asked me. The question I've been waiting for years now. Why does the world have to be so cruel? Why couldn't the gods just deal?

After we defeated Gaea, we got a wish. When Percy and I wished for peace, and our young hero lives to be over, the gods and goddesses forced us to wait five years. Don't get me wrong, I love fighting for my mother. But sometimes, all I wanted was to go to the movies with my dad and spend days on end memorizing the patterns in Percy's eyes.

By the time we finally got the peace we fully deserved, we were both twenty-four. We had been dating for nine years, until we got to the point where we worshiped each other. All nine years were crippled with pain, and endless adventure, that grew tiring. Like running around in a circle, endless. Or so it seemed.

How did we get here? Six months of pure bliss, no worries, no gods breathing down your back. Magical. Tears were rolling down my cheeks in endless streams. I can have this man all to myself, and all I need to do is say yes. _Say yes! Don't just stand there! _

"Yes! Baby, of course! Yes, yes, _yes_!" I shouted to him, feeling breathless. I slammed the window shut, flying down the steps until the ground was a blur. I flung the door open like a maniac. The neighbors probably thought I was crazy. But I didn't care. All I care about is reaching that adorably, unbearably, undeniably hot boyfriend standing in the middle of _our _driveway, in front of _our _house.

I flung myself into his arms, wrapping my legs and arms around his torso. My head was right beside his ear.

"Of course I'll marry you Percy." I whispered to my seaweed brain breathlessly. His strong arms wrapped around my body, he buried his head in my hair, inhaling my coconut shampoo. He let me down, holding on to my left hand gently. The ring was glowing silver, polished to perfection. It had a fairly sized diamond on it, with three aquamarine stones on each side. I took the ring gently from Percy's hand, wanting to see what was engraved on the inside.

It was in beautifully simple script, tinted the same blue as the stones. On the inside it said "Our love is immortal.". Words have never been more true. Tears made my vision swim, I was a big sniffling, sloppy, mess. Percy put the ring on my finger. I was hiccuping now as Percy put my jaw in his hand.

"I love you baby." Percy told me as he stared into my eyes with deep concentration. Devotion to the fullest. My breath caught in my throat. His kissed me softly, his lips gentle and yielding. Obedient with practice, yet still demanding and needy. He started walking backwards, turning of his car with one hand.

He walked me all the way to the door, kissing me with a sweet fire that left me light-headed. We separated to open and then lock the door, scramble up stairs to the bedroom. _I just got engaged... _

"Wait!" I told Percy when we were half way up the stairs.

"Yeah?" Percy asked.

"Oh my god Percy! I'm married! I have to tell the world! Where's the phone?" I asked him as I mostly tripped down the stairs.

I unlocked the front door, screaming to the neighbors. "I'm _engaged_!" I shouted into the darkening night. I grabbed the phone, feeling like I was made of helium. I started with the processing of waking every body I knew up just to scream about what happened tonight. Percy, bless his heart, just sat there and chuckled at me. At one point, ten minutes before I was done on the phone, he went into the bedroom

**Percy's POV**

Time for phase two. I walked into our bedroom, closing the curtains and turning off all the lights except one. I took the glow in the dark stickers I had picked up before I talked to Annabeth's dad and put them on the ceiling, arranging them into sixteen words. "Annabeth, I love you, and I will keep loving you for years and years to come." Spelled in a glowing turquoise.

Annabeth came in a minute after I had set it up. I smiled at her, I had taken my jeans off for bed. She stripped off her's, biting her lip. She crawled into bed, and I turned off the light. Her eyes slowly trailed to the ceiling, noticing the muted glow.

She gasped very quietly, her eyes watering, her mouth stretching into a watery smile. She blinked a few times and her eyes cleared.

"Come here, would you?" Annabeth asked me, I gladly wrapped her into my arms, kissing her neck.

**Annabeth's POV: TWO DAYS LATER: ON MONDAY**

I was heading to my car for work, moping because Percy had already left before me, just like every other week morning. Percy said we shouldn't take today off because he wanted to save our days for our wedding and honeymoon. As I reached my car, I noticed there was frost on my windshield, in summer. I had a thought that Percy could somehow freeze water.

I saw that there were words scratched on the frost. It read: "I love you, fiancée." Yeah, this was definitely Percy's doing. I smiled.

**A/N: The next chapter will be Percy and Annabeth on their honeymoon. I'm horable at weddings, so sorry. This we will be moving forward from this chapter obviously. Reviews mean the world!**


	5. Blue and Gray

**"When I look into your eyes It's**** like watching the night sky Or**** a beautiful sunrise ****Well, there's so much they hold ****And just like them old stars ****I see that you've come so far ****To be right where you are ****How old is your soul? ****Well, I won't give up on us ****Even if the skies get rough I'm**** giving you all my love ****I'm still looking up"**

**Jason Mraz, "I Won't Give Up"**

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**"Settle down, it'll all be clear Don't pay no mind to the demons They fill you with fear The trouble it might drag you down You get lost, you can always be found Just know you're not alone Cause I'm gonna make this place your home"**

**Phillip Phillips, "Home"**

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**A/N: I'm not very good with writing about weddings, so I'm going to skip to the honeymoon. Enjoy!**

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**Percy's POV**

Don't get me wrong, I loved the color of the place mats, and the DJ picked all the right songs, but all I cared about was the girl in princess curls who volunteered to walk into my arms time and time again. So she really wants me. "Till death do us part". Forever. If she want to be with me, then I'm never going to let her go. If she doesn't want to leave, then she's staying. I'll hold on to her with my very last breath.

After both the wedding and reception, we had to hop on a plane and experience jet lag. I never felt more grateful for the gift of peace I was given by the gods. Even though I know Zeus would turn a blind eye today, and when we would go home, I still Iris messaged him just to be sure.

I was still scared of flying, though. I would be complaining like a five-year old if I wasn't so happy to have both my rings on my baby's finger. Annabeth slept most of the plane ride, and eventually I fell asleep too. We got woken up for the meal and then again for the arrival. We were both leaning towards each other, holding hands, when the flight attendant woke us up ten minutes before we were going to touch down. She was smiling brightly.

"Are you two on your honeymoon?" She asks us with a cheeky, knowing smile. We nod sleepily as the women flashes one more smile at us, walking away to wake up other passengers. We both pack our carry-on, stretching out our stiff limbs. I can see Annabeth smiling at me, trying to guess where we are going.

I cover her ears when the pilot announces where we are, Annabeth pouting at me the whole time. I smile at her, rolling my eyes. We grab our bags, all of them fit in the overhead compartment thankfully. Annabeth hates baggage claim, despising all the unthinkable things that could happen. Her words, not mine.

We walk slowly off the plane. Good thing we slept on the plane, the sun is already setting, making it seem like no time passed since we boarded the plane. I direct Annabeth to the car I rented, a 2002 Lexus rx.

"Did you rent a _Lexus_, Percy?" Annabeth asks me in a disbelieving voice, I nod slowly to her. _Does she think I stole it? Of course I rented it! _ I think, looking at her quizzically.

"Lexus is an expensive car brand. I'm just surprised." She breathed out. I smile warmly at her.

"Only the best for Mrs. Jackson." I coo to her. She blushes and shivers. We both finish loading are stuff into the back, climbing into the roomy front seats.

"Do you like being called Annabeth Jackson?" I ask her. She hides behind her hair.

"Maybe..." She says lightly. I smile at the road.

"Annabeth? Do you see the paper in my pocket? Can you get it and read the directions to me?" I ask her, Annabeth reaches over excitedly, yanking it out of my pocket. I chuckle at her.

"There's no clues on there, sweety. I checked." I tell her, she crosses her arms, and tries to look mad. She just looks flustered. Annabeth directs me through the many streets. We finally arrive, and I pull into the driveway.

**Annabeth's POV**

It looks like we're driving up to house that's backed up to whatever ocean we flew over on the plane. The closest neighbor was about a mile back, so we're pretty much alone. The thought makes me blush.

Percy shuts off the car and starts to get our bags, I help him and we carry them inside.

"Will you tell me where we are now?" I ask him. His smile grows bigger.

"I rented a condo in the Cayman Islands. We're on Grand Cayman right now." He tells me. I think back social studies.

"So that's the Caribbean Sea?" I ask as I point to the waves rolling on the beach. Percy nods his head. Of course our honeymoon has to be right on the ocean. I shake my head as Percy pulls out the key, unlocking the door and dumping our stuff inside.

"Do you want to look around?" Percy asks me as he grabs a water from the already-stocked fridge. I bob my head, walking down the hallway into the living room. It's spacious and flows right on to the beach. There's a yellow-colored spare bedroom, and the kitchen is mostly white and tan, beachy. There's a half bath off of the kitchen that's a light green.

The master bedroom is at the back of the one story house. It's dark blue, with a simple grayish-white master bath. The sheets are a crisp white and turned down. I check the clock beside the bed, it's nine o' clock already.

Percy walks in, his hair tousled, leaning against the door frame. His whole body is relaxed, and I walk over to kiss him, and he kisses me back.

**Percy's POV**

I wake up with Annabeth, my wife in my arms. On our honeymoon. Nothing could stop the face-splitting grin from falling across my face. I could feel my princess start to stir, her eyelashes fluttering slowly open.

"Good morning my beautiful wife." I whisper in her ear. She smiles, and her grin is quickly cut off when she bites her lip probably thinking about how I said "wife". The sheets pooled around us in a comforting cocoon, so when I got up the blankets shifted off of Annabeth.

Annabeth pulls the covers back, whining, covering her face from the sun coming from the window. She curls up on her side, making a tight ball. I start to gently tug on the sheets, but she's not budging. So I yank on them as hard as I can, and instead of her loosing her grip on the blankets, Annabeth's whole body moves towards me, clinging to the sheet for dear life.

"Annabeth!" I say softly, my voice sounding slightly annoyed.

"I'm going, I'm up." She grumbles at me as she throws off the covers, stretching out her body. The view makes me dizzy.

"Quit staring!" She commands me as she throws a pillow at me. I smile sweetly

"I'm sorry, it's just that my wife is so beautiful, that I can't help staring." I tell her in a sugar-coated voice. She rolls her eyes, yet I can tell she's blushing, and she's fighting back a smile.

I get in the shower, thankful that Annabeth is such a great cook, making omelets for both of us.

**Annabeth's POV**

While Percy is in the shower, I make his favorite omelette. Cooking is relaxing to me, I wasn't a fantastic cook that made ziti and lasagna everyday, though I could "make a mean rotisserie chicken" according to Percy.

Percy came out of the shower in a white shirt and cargo shorts, closing his eyes and sniffing loudly until he was standing exactly in front of the stove. His omelette was on a plate cooling by the sink, stuffed with bacon, sausage, peppers, and onions, while I had made pepperoni and cheese scrambled eggs for myself. He opens his eyes and licks his lips as I put my breakfast on a plate.

"This isn't yours Percy, your omelette is over by the sink." I tell him as I search the drawers for forks. He spins around, picking up his plate.

"This looks even better, Annabeth. Thank you for making breakfast." He says to me, kissing my cheek. I smile at him as we sit at the table on the patio, a soft breeze ruffling Percy's still wet hair. We finish breakfast quickly.

"I'm going to take a shower." I tell Percy, as I gather the plates, Percy grabs a towel and a swimsuit from the bedroom, even though he doesn't need it.

"I'm going swimming." He informs me as he walks outside to the patio. I hop in the shower. By the time I get out, Percy is already out of the water, staring at me. He pounces on me, rushed but still tender. I can't help but smile.

**Percy's POV **

I decided we would stay on Grand Cayman for a week, and the days flew by all to fast. While we're packing our bags, Annabeth is frowning, going as slow as possible.

"You're not going to delay leaving if you pack slowly, we'll just be late for the plane." I tell her. She looks at me with a stormy expression.

"It's just I can't imagine going back to work after the paradise of this week." Annabeth tells me unhappily.

"I know baby. I'm sorry. Think, we're married now, so that's an excuse to do nothing but be with each other when we're home, right?" I ask her with a grin. She rolls her eyes at me, but manages to give me sweet, suggestive smile. I love this girl, my wife.

Of course, Annabeth was right. It didn't seem right that I had to focus on my job when the prospect of coming home to Annabeth was dangling before me. Like all newlyweds, we managed to somehow stay in the honeymoon stage while going through the motions of normal life.

Each day was magical, and the days stretched out before us, dizzying me with their numbers.

**Annabeth's POV**

Everything I did with Percy eventually fell in to a comfortable rhythm, any stress created outside of us as a family. We really were stronger together. Some lonely, pessimistic nights, our two-person family didn't seem like enough. A three-person family would be a the most loveliest dream, and the best thing that ever happened to me, besides Percy, was having that dream come true.

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**A/N: How did you like this chapter? Reviews are always well appreciated! The next chapter will be Annabeth and Percy having their first child. This child will be their first and last child, simply because I wouldn't do well with writing about siblings because I am an only child myself. If there's any confusion with this chapter's tittle, it's meant to represent Percy and Annabeth's eyes, and how they find comfort and love in each other.**


	6. Nine-Month Wait

**"There goes my life.**  
**There goes my future, my everything.**  
**Might as well kiss it all good-bye.**  
**There goes my life...**  
**A couple years of up all night and a few thousand diapers later.**  
**That mistake he thought he made covers up the refrigerator.**  
**Oh yeah...he loves that little girl."**

**Kenny Chesney, "There Goes My Life"**

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**A/N: Quote from I'm Only Human (the first chapter) told in Percy's POV: _We named our daughter the Greek word for sunrise, ανατολή, Anatolí in English. We called her Ana. When she grew into her shiny personality, I called her 'my little sunshine' because the sun seemed to reflect in her sea-green eyes. When she was sad her curly blond hair hid her face and those teary green eyes looked like a cloud covering the sun on a rainy day. _Hope that helped refresh your memory in case this chapter confuses you.**

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**Percy's POV**

When I found out Annabeth was pregnant it was one of the best days of my life. Sure, there was a huge part of me that was flipping out and panicking, but I still was overjoyed, even if I was a little overwhelmed. The months leading up to the birth was a learning process for the both of us.

I was lenient for most of the time, I understood that the hormones would cause Annabeth to be crabby and disagreeable. Whenever I was at my wit's end, I just thought of having a beautiful baby girl or boy in my arms and I couldn't stay mad.

It was hard sometimes. Some days I had trouble finding a reason to get up in the morning. I always scraped by, somehow managing to be a loving husband through this nightmare. I remember my daughter's birth like it was only yesterday.

Proactive Annabeth of course had a birth plan months before. She had the bags packed, the car always had gas in it, and a number of other things were always in order at any given time. I remember Annabeth waking me up in the middle of the night. It was a summer day in July. The window was open, letting in a cool breeze and washing Annabeth's tight face in moonlight.

"Percy!" she whispered harshly in my ear, shaking my shoulder. Her grip tightened as she had another contraction. Her breaths were forced pants, and by this time I was fully up.

"Annabeth. Is it time? Gods, why didn't you wake me earlier?" I ask her, her contraction ending. She looks up at me, her eyes watering slightly, and nods her head.

"That was my first contraction." She told me as she jumped out of bed, getting half of the bags that we needed for the hospital. We had already decided long ago that me trying to home deliver a baby probably wouldn't be a good idea. It would be such a horrible idea, that Annabeth planned to get to the hospital as soon as she started feeling pains.

If we hadn't gone to those boring, but necessary, birth/baby classes, I would have been really confused about Annabeth's suddenly endless supply of energy. In the early part of the first stage of labor the mother is usually restless and excited, I think.

I grab the bags as well as both our phones, the car keys and her regular purse plus my wallet from the kitchen counter. I walk out of the door of our house, which we're still trying to completely pay for, the crickets buzzing in our suburban neighborhood.

Annabeth is gradually slowing down, for one brief second I'm worried she won't make it to the car. Her "short burst of energy" must be wearing off, or something like that. I can almost smile when I think of how early it is still, that Annabeth we be at least semi comfortable in the hospital.

Five minutes into the drive, Annabeth has another contraction, squeezing my right hand lightly, me being fully glad that I don't drive a stick shift. I hold Annabeth's hand the whole way there, trying to seem collected, only allowing myself to chew on my lip. I estimate that her contractions were somewhere around twenty minutes apart, which is right where her's should be.

"Annabeth, how come your water didn't break?" I ask her when she let's go of my slightly sweaty hand, taping on the door in an erratic beat in another burst of energy.

"Well, our baby here was due a couple of days ago, and women's waters don't always have to break to have their baby." She told me wisely. I node my head, informing her that it would only take five more minutes and we would be at the hospital.

"We can call everybody there, while you're still up to it." I suggest to Annabeth, she nods as she gazes out the window at the calm and quiet night. It almost feels like the lull, the calm, before the storm. The eye of the hurricane.

"Hey Annabeth... Have you thought about... a name? For the baby?... The girl, I mean..." I tell her hesitantly. I had asked her before and she had gotten all touchy and moody.

_"What do you think would be a beautiful girl's name, Annabeth?" I asked her with a goofy grin on my face, rubbing her stomach gently. She suddenly pulls away from my embrace. _

_"How am I -we- suppose to name my -sorry our- daughter when I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE?! " She screamed at me, passionate and standing directly in front of me. The first thought that crossed my mind was the she made sure to include me and not just herself in anything related to our future daughter, even when she was mad. _

_It then occurred to me that she was mad for no apparent reason. I put my hands up in defeat. Sometimes I just have to choose my battles. _

So of course I really actually avoided that conversation, putting trust in Annabeth that she would remember. When I found myself pondering over it and dying to ask her, I reminded myself that I might press the wrong button or pull a trigger or what ever.

"Oh my Gods! Seriously?! I FORGOT to name my daughter?!" Annabeth squeaked out, turning silent as she searched her memory.

"I fought with you because I didn't want to name someone Jamie when they really looked like a Katherine, didn't I?" She said softly, I mutely nodded back, still a little scared about how she would react.

"I'm sorry Percy, that was rather pointless and quite lacking in... well... _actual thought..._" Annabeth told me, I could see her grimacing out of the corner of my eye. I shake my head slowly.

"It's fine." I tell her, and suddenly we're on the road to the hospital and I can see it in the distance. Annabeth starts gripping my arm more forcefully.

"They're getting worse." She says through clenched teeth, "maybe eighteen minutes apart, though their not horrible." She admits as her frame relaxes when the contraction ends.

We arrive at the hospital, checking in and being informed that Annabeth's doctor was in fact available. Annabeth gets brought a wheelchair to help get her off her feet, instructing me to "tell all the relatives" as she gets guided by the nurse to her room, getting hooked up to machines and changing into hospital gowns and whatever else.

Most of our friends from Camp Half Blood sound really tired, but I guess their coming... slowly that is. Annabeth's dad started sounding really nervous, while my mom was squealing, rushing for the car and screaming at Paul to "move it or acquire his own means of transportation".

I shook my head at my mom, checking everybody off my mental list of who I had to call. I walked up to the desk and asked what room Annabeth was in.

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**Annabeth's POV**

The day my gorgeous daughter was born was both the best and worst day of my life. For one thing, it looked like our family was going to grow a little bit bigger, but on the other hand, well, labor sucks.

An hour in to labor, and my contractions were still short and roughly seventeen minutes apart.

"Percy?" I ask him as he walks back in the room, after greeting Hazel and Frank who traveled all the way from Camp Jupiter, with the help of Nico's shadow travel of course.

"Yes Annabeth?" He asked me quietly. "Oh and by the way, Jason, Piper, Leo and Calypso are all on their way from Camp Half Blood." He told me, ticking each person off on his fingers. I still smile when I think about Leo and Calypso. I nod my head, clearing my throat and look deeply into his eyes.

"Percy, I want to name our daughter in Greek." I tell him solemnly, his eyebrows moving up slightly.

"I mean, find a Greek word that describes her, shorten it or tweak the word in English to make it sound like an American name. Then we could teach her how to write and say her shortened American as well as her Greek name in English, then she'll learn the actual Greek name when she grows a little older." I say in a rush, suddenly hating the look of confusion in Percy's eyes.

Finally it slowly dawned on him what I was talking about, he slowly nodded and hugged me tightly, though not too tight. He sat on the hospital bed, wrapping his arms around me and burying his head in my hair, smiling and breathing in the faded scent of my shampoo.

* * *

It had been thirteen hours since I had first woken up, all of Percy and I's camp friends waiting patiently outside the room, as well as my dad and Paul. Percy was sitting in a chair to my right holding my right hand, grimacing every time I had another contraction. I swear to the gods I wasn't _trying _to grind his knuckles together. Sally, Percy's mom, was in the chair to my left, instructing me on my breathing.

I was almost ten centimeters dilated, my legs were trembling and I couldn't decide whether I wanted a fan or a sweater.

Dr. Patricia, my obstetrician, was in front of my legs, and the contractions were consistent now.

"You're going to do you first push, okay Annabeth?" asked me, Percy measuring his breathing to guide me in the right direction. So I pushed with all of my might when I was instructed to, keeping my breathes in check as much as I could.

Sally was rubbing my back comfortably, talking in a soothing voice, anchoring me to the Earth.

No words could describe the feeling I felt when the nurse handed me my baby girl, Percy kissing my cheek and his mom holding my hand. My beautiful baby girl was born on July 21st.

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**A/N: So you may have noticed that I mentioned Leo _and Calypso _in this chapter, reason being I'm going to base their relationship on my story "Caleo: A Promise Kept" (Caleo is the couple's combined name). Please read my story, just click on my profile! It talks all about how Leo and Calypso both finally get the "happy ending" they deserve.**

**A/N#2: Yes, I did mean to stop there. The birth of Percy and Annabeth's child is going to be a two-parter! The next chapter will be Brown-Eyed Beauty, and will have all the mushy details.**

**A/N#3: So I'm thinking I might write a little story on Percy and Annabeth's wedding, called "Wind-Carried Vows". It would be on my profile and it would be maybe a little shorter than this chapter. I'll probably write it no matter what, but I won't post it if no one asks for it! So review or pm and tell me! **


	7. Brown-Eyed Beauty

**But more than anything, more than anything,  
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,  
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,  
You never need to carry more than you can hold,  
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,  
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,  
Yeah, this, is my wish.**

**Rascal Flatts, "My Wish"**

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**Annabeth's POV**

"We're going to call her Ana." I said sternly, leaving no room for arguing. I just went through labor, you're agreeing with me, period. Speaking of periods, I'm just so excited to start getting mine again, like not!

Percy rolls his eyes at me, "of course Annabeth. She's ours sunshine, Ana sounds perfect."

I can't help but smile through my tired, larbor-pained façade. Her face is chubby, just like every other baby. But darling Ana is not like every other child. She's a demigod, second generation, but she's also mine, and Percy's. She's ours, and the world seems brighter. Like the lights were always dimmed, waiting for our daughter to brighten up our world, just like I always knew she would.

It's fantastic, sitting in a hospital, feeling tired and achy, yet paying such close attention to the bundle of joy in my arms. Percy's sitting next to me, his left arm wrapped around my waist, the other stroking our daughter's fuzz that's suppose to be hair some day. That left arm, the man next to me, still makes my stomach flutter, still makes my face light up. But my face is glowing, because he's here, and she's in my arms. My eyelids grow heavy even though I don't want to lose sight of this beautiful picture. I gently put Ana in Percy's arms, leaning against his shoulder as all of our friends come in quietly.

Their silent, muffling their gasping and squealing, because this moment needs to be perfect, and it is.

**Percy's POV**

I could feel Annabeth nodding off against my back, my chest aching in the good way, she needs her sleep. It took a lot of work to bring our daughter into this world. I can never thank her enough. Our friends gaze at the pink bundle, the stars in their eyes. No one's eyes were as bright as Annabeth's. She held Ana in her arms, and I watched as she found that one missing piece. I found my missing piece, and then I discovered the piece I had all over again.

Annabeth's not a piece, she's my whole existence, and now I have a part of Annabeth, and part of me, to make the world glow. Ana will be so beautiful, and smart, and perfect, because that's what daughters are, the apple of your eye. Unconditional love. Plus, with Annabeth's brain and my face, Ana will be irrisistable. To boys, with only one thing on their mind. O_h gods, boys, and parties, and alcohol, and the internet (there are some bad websites out there), the world will corrupt my beautiful daughter. Wash her out..._

Five minutes into parenting and I'm already panicking. Seeing my stress, my mother reaches out her arms to hold Ana, her granddaughter. My mom's a grandmother, everything is just so shocking right now. My mom quickly hands Ana back, sprinting out of the room to go to the bathroom.

Paul follows behind her, grabbing coffee for himself, my mom, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Chase. They head down to the break room. The room is crowded with nine demigods, including me and Annabeth, oh and ten with beautiful Ana. Let's not forgot Calypso, and the satyr, and the cyclops. Everyone is smiling, laughing quietly, watching Ana give me googly eyes.

She's awake, silent and breath-taking. Her warm chocolate-brown eyes invite you in, swallowing you whole with warmth. Never a more beautiful brown-eyed baby girl. Annabeth was stirring behind me, kissing my shoulders and feeling down my arms until she reached Ana. We all gaze at Ana and Annabeth, who were gazing at each other intently.

None of us got blinded by the flash that came bay the door, or was it two consecutive flashes? We all look up, knowing what to expect, but not imagining anything like this. Athena and Poseidon standing semi close to each other, smiling. At me and Annabeth, and Ana. Their smiles fade slightly when put under the strain of our questioning stares.

"Annabeth" says Athena

"Percy" says Poseidon

"Ana" they say at the same time.

"Mom..." Annabeth says, her voice quavering slightly. Athena gazing at her with an expression I didn't know she used, happiness, respect, even love. I turn to Poseidon, and I find pride glittering in the depths of his eyes.

"Dad." I say, the word sounding something between a laugh and a cry, relief. It's a magical moment when the two come closer to our trio. In the back of my mind I think about how this might be the last time we see them, but you have to live in the moment, right? I still don't regret the peace they let us take, let all of demigod "vets" take.

**Annabeth's POV:**

Athena is a gallant warrior, a caring mom, and my heart's breaking backwards. _Stitch. _A hole is sown up when she smiles at me. _Stitch. _Another hole, Percy and her are shaking hands. Imagine that. _Stitch. _I hand Ana to her, and the air turns magical, Ana cooing madly, and I hope the little baby is cherishing this moment, because this may be the only moment she gets with her origin.

I don't care that they'll both be gone tomorrow, because we still light a fire for food offerings, and Baklava is always good. Athena hands Ana back to me, and I hand her to Percy, who hands her to Poseidon. The beautiful thing is getting passed around like a basketball. I turn back to Athena, feeling like the moment between Percy and Poseidon is private.

Athena's eyes glitter gray, reflecting mine. She reflects me, in personality and looks. I get almost everything I have from her. I thank the gods that I got Percy despite her. She's my past, but she'll always live in my future. My future. It's the baby in my arms, and the husband at my back. _Daughter and father. _My life.

**Percy's POV**

Poseidon, who gave me everything, is walking out the door, and I'm waving goodbye. Not even chasing for even a step. My life right here is too precious. Annabeth and Ana are too beautiful, heck, leaving for the bathroom is physically painful. I need them like I need air, or water. My past, melting into my present.

I'm going to dive into the future like a crazed person, because Annabeth makes me feel crazy. Good crazy, and then, I can already tell, Ana will be the force pulling me back from crossing the border to mentally ill town. Two forces working like opposites in perfect harmony, and we have our whole live to let the balance tip and sway in the good way.

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**A/N: Well? Gooey enough? Meaningful enough? Feedback please! I'm running around in the dark here. Also, remember to check out Wind-Carried Vows: lots of fluff about the wedding! I just felt bad about not including it! So here I am! Please read it! Just click on my profile! **

**A/N#2: The next chapter will be about Annabeth Percy telling preteen Ana about their demigod past! I'll try to ease into Ana as a character as smoothly as I can! PLEASE REVIEW! **


	8. Confused Teenager

**Oh darling, don't you ever grow up**  
** Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little**  
** Oh darling, don't you ever grow up**  
** Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple**  
** I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart**  
** And no one will desert you**  
** Just try to never grow up, never grow up**

** Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room**  
** Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home**  
** Remember the footsteps, remember the words said**

**Taylor Swift, "Never Grow Up"**

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**Ana's POV**

I've always wondered why parents named me in two different languages, and why dad was always nervous when flying, why mom would have a serious panic attack when she saw a spider and how dad would always take her seriously. Why my grandpa on my dad's side looked like he was twenty-five and always seemed different, and why the grandma on my mom's side looked more like twenty, who didn't seem like me. A million unanswered questions, an old-looking pen in a locked box. I never expected there was only one answer for all those questions that my parents always tried to avoid. I never expected the answer would be like that, like straight out of a fantasy.

I knew that they weren't crazy because both my mom and my dad believed it, and it's kind of hard to go crazy with another person, about the same thing no less.

**Annabeth's POV**

I'll admit, Percy and I stalled for a couple of years after Ana started asking questions. We didn't want to rush into telling her something that would alter her life forever. Everyday I look at my daughter and husband, knowing they're as safe as can be, I count my lucky stars for that day Percy and I decided to go down the road of peace in a more relaxed way. In rare moments when I start to regret my decision, like when I'm looking at Riptide in Percy's study, or I find my cap in the closet, I quickly stop thinking about it. I would have to give up the beautiful life the gods helped pave for us.

If we continued on our way that day, we might be dead, or with more scars that we could ever count in a million years. Sometimes the most beautiful thing you will ever see is the simplest, the easiest thing to not appreciate enough. I don't regret our past, but I don't long for it anymore than I did years ago.

With a 16-year-old on our hands, living in quiet Buffalo, New York, it's easy to think we were always this way. Living in cookie cutter houses and mowing the lawn every weekend. When first having Ana, both Percy and I agreed that 16 seemed a good time as any to answer her questions, but we also agreed that she would be the one to bring it up.

So when both Poseidon and Athena were over for her sweet 16 after everyone had left, we didn't refuse her answers when she asked.

"I just don't understand why when I ask you guys how you met or where you went to school you change the subject or pretend you didn't hear me. I mean, do you have something to hide or something?" Ana asks us as Athena and Poseidon walk around with Percy and me picking up wrappers and Dixie cups left over from the party. I sighed and looked at my daughter, motioning for her to sit down. Percy pleaded with his eyes, he was always the hesitant, protective one. I just shrugged my shoulders, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Athena and Poseidon both looked slightly alarmed at the expression on my face, sitting down in the chairs opposite the couch, sensing the importance of my next words. Percy and I each sat next to Ana on the couch, and I held his hand behind my daughter's back for support. _What are you suppose to say when your words will impact someone forever? 'This is important, so pay attention.'? _

"Know that we were never lying to you, Ana. We were only waiting until we felt you could handle it." I knew this would press her teenage buttons, but she needed to know it, when she was older at least. Surprisingly, she only looked puzzled.

"You said 'we', who does that include?"

"Well, your mother and I, your grandparents here, as well as my parents and your mom's parents. Most of our childhood friends." Percy tells her, a look of guilt plastered across his face, I squeeze his hand sympathetically.

"When you say 'childhood friends' do you mean my multiple 'aunts' and 'uncles'?"

"Yes, Aunt Hazel and Uncle Frank and everyone in that bunch." I say with a smile, thinking of all of our friend in various states of settling down.

"Oh, okay." Ana says seriously, making me proud of her. Always so understanding, with the exception of a few teenager moments.

"Your parents named you in Greek, and then taught you to speak, write and read Greek, yes?" Athena asks, putting her hand on Ana's.

"Yeah, I always thought I had Greek relatives or something. I mean, it is our religion and everything." Ana tells her, her brows knitted together.

"You do have Greek relatives, as well as Roman ones." Percy tells our daughter, motioning to both Athena and Poseidon. Ana's eyebrows raise, but she doesn't say a word. We're all staring at her, trying to get the point across that this is crazy important.

"Anatolí Sally Jackson, everyone in this room are different from your friends at school, including you." Poseidon tells her, looking deeply into my daughter's sea-green eyes. Her left eyebrows lift as she looks around at all of us, probably looking for someone who's at least a little sane. To late. We're all crazy.

**Percy's POV**

"Can someone tell me _what _you guys are talking about specifically? Can I get some straight none-vague answers please?" Ana demands, looking exasperated.

"Fine, your grandparents are gods and your parents are demigods, happy? What have I told about giving me attitude?" Annabeth snaps, her lips pressed together, breathing deeply through her nose. I massage her hand, she must be really stressed.

Ana sits and stares at her, her mouth hanging open, eyes wide.

"_What?" _She asks, looking around at us again. "You mean, I like live with the gods I worship? How is that even possible, or _sane_?"

"I know this is a lot to take in, but my name is Athena, and this us Poseidon, and it's exactly as it sounds." Athena told her, as Ana ran her fingers through her hair and basically started shutting down.

"Okay, okay. Five minutes, no an hour please. I have to go, clear my head or something." Ana told us as she quickly left the room, shutting the door to her bedroom and turning on the radio.

We all stare at each other, and I find myself unable to decide if she took it well, I mean, she didn't scream, right?

Athena and Poseidon stand up to leave, and I have to refrain from asking them to stay. The last time we saw them was when Ana was born, and despite telling her over and over about them as accurately we could afford, I was still surprised at how well she took to them.

They said goodbye to Ana through the door with a lot of 'nice to uh meet you uh' and 'uh yes you too uh'. At least she had met them, I couldn't imagine when she would see them again. Probably when she's thirty. I wish it didn't have to be like this, but it's the price we paid for going down the road we chose.

**Ana's POV**

"Ana, sweety, please talk to us." My mom asked through the door, and I turned down the radio out of common decency.

"Mom, you just like, laid a knowledge bomb on me. Let me decompress." I ask her, exasperated and feeling more than a little high-strung.

"Okay, you do that." My father says wearily, sounding awkward as they walks away into their bedroom.

It's just, what are you suppose to say to that? 'Oh, ok. My grandparents are mythical religious figures, got it.' Sometimes I felt weird when my friends puzzled over my religion, but most of my friends had the a same religion. The only kids my age that actually understood me, were my 'cousins'. They all lived all over the US, and mostly we just texted and such.

Just then I got a message from my best friend/text buddy/cousin/pen pal. Her name was Zoe, the daughter of my parent's friends, Jason and Piper. We texted all the time, she was my confident. Lately, no, more like two years, she wouldn't answer any of my persistent questions. Now I know why. Zoe was currently 18, so her parents, in theory, should have told her about this two years ago.

I felt like texting wouldn't be enough, so I opted to call her.

"Zoe, did your parents tell you something really important when you turned thirteen?" I ask her, prepared to grill her and not wanting to waste time on small talk.

"You mean like the sex talk?" She asked me, snorting lightly.

"_No, _I mean what our parents are." I was so screwed if I guessed wrong.

"They told you, didn't they?" She asked me, sighing in her two-years-superior way.

"_Yes, _and Zoe, do tell me, _are both our parents on crack?! _They're either high or crazy to suggest anything like that." I told her, disbelieving and just plain confused.

"No, it may be you with the problem. Trust your parents, they wouldn't do this to us if they didn't mean it." She told me, acting like a sage, who's only a senior herself.

"I can't believe you." I told her. This whole idea was crazy.

"I've got to go, my brother's on the other line." Zoe told me, I found myself rolling my eyes, Zoe had the most annoying 13-year-old brother named Alex. He gave me a head ache.

"Whatever." I told her, hanging up before I said goodbye.

**Percy's POV**

I knew logic would eventually win out, but it was hard to keep my patience when I heard Ana ranting to Zoe in her room. I didn't know if I could take waiting.

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**A/N#3: I don't know why, but I found writing about Ana in her teenage years kind of awesome and fun. So I'm going to do another chapter, plus it will help you map out the OC I'm going to add in (second generation demigods like Zoe). Sounds good?**

**A/N#2: I'm so sorry this chapter was so full of dialogue. I had a really difficult time trying to write this, I couldn't decide where to start and what parts I should describe in detail and which parts I should just summarize. I hope I did decent at least. Seriously, it was really painful. Not looking for a pity party, just at least one pick-me-up review. **


	9. Confused Teenager 2

**I don't know what I want, so don't ask me  
Cause I'm still trying to figure it out  
Don't know what's down this road, I'm just walking  
Trying to see through the rain coming down  
Even though I'm not the only one  
Who feels the way I do**

**Taylor Swift, "A Place in This World"**

* * *

**A/N: Whew! That was such a dry spell for this story! My other two stories for the Twilight saga and PJ series were moving along nicely (my non-crazy way of saying I'm SUPER excited) yet this story I just wasn't feeling it to write it immediately. One of these days, I'm going to have to write one story at a time and make it real serious like. Or maybe two, since I can't decide if I would want to do PJO or Twilight**

* * *

**Ana's POV**

I was spread out on my light purple bed spread when my computer chimed with an incoming Skype call. I couldn't help but groan, knowing it would be either my best friend Emma, or Jordan, my annoying 'cousin'. His parents were Aunt Hazel and Uncle Frank, they lived the farthest away from us, my parents were always so uptight about calling long distance.

Luckily, it was in fact 13-year-old Jordan, I wouldn't know what to do if Emma asked me to do something as normal as go to the mall after my parents laying the 'bomb'. Sadly, when I accepted the call to see Jordan's annoyed and fuzzy face, I knew Jordan wasn't too much better. If this outrageous idea of demigods was true, it would be ludicrous to think that young Jordan would know anything about it.

"Hey Ana," he scowled at me.

"Be pleasant, Jordan, Ana and her parents are practically family!" I heard Aunt Hazel shouting.

"I _know _mom, I'm not hanging up on her, am I?"

Aunt Hazel came into view, loudly calling for Uncle Frank, smiling sweetly at me while Jordan just rolled his eyes.

"Can I see your parents?" Aunt Hazel asked. I obediently shouted for my parents, dreading to see their no doubt pinched and stressed faces. They opened the door eagerly, looking painfully crestfallen when I didn't say a word and only pointed towards the computer.

"Hey Hazel. Hi Frank!" My mother said just as Uncle Frank walked into the room. Jordan and I shared a look, silently leaving the adults to do their thing.

**Annabeth's POV**

I sat down in Ana's old light blue desk chair, smiling at Hazel and Frank, blurry as they were on the computer screen.

"You told her, right," Frank asked bluntly as Hazel's smile started slipping into a serious mask. I nodded my head, biting my lip. I was worried for my baby girl, I didn't want to see her to grow up too fast. Hazel gave me a sympathetic look, my own pain stirring up her's, in a couple of years she would have to do the same thing to Jordan. Percy walked over to me, smushing me over and squashing on to the chair, putting his strong arm around me.

"Yeah, Frank," Percy sighed out beside me, glancing at the door before leaning forward on the white desk and continuing softly, "we plan on taking her to Camp." They both nodded somberly, their movements blurred.

A chime sounded from the computer, Jason and Piper's names popping up on the screen. Percy fumbled around the computer, I rolled my eyes and accepted the call and closed all the windows that Percy accidentally opened.

"Jason, Piper, can I ask you a question," my voice was urgent and tense with worry. They both nodded, their eyebrows raised in question.

"Are you glad that you told Zoe?"

**Percy's POV**

The smile on their faces was confusing, if not refreshing.

Piper shook her head, "guys, it's not the end of the world, she'll be fine," Annabeth still look skeptical, putting her head under her chin and leaning forward.

"Have any of you heard from Leo and Calypso?" Jason leaned forward, his eyes flickering back and forth between the us and Hazel and Frank.

"What about Nico and Stephanie?" I added.

Everyone shrugged, I couldn't help but smirk, those four were always wrapped up in the significant other, I'm surprised they never had kids yet, even by _accident._

"I don't mean to keep you. Have a nice day everyone, could luck with Ana," Hazel and Frank signed off with a smile.

"Mom? Dad? Diner?" Jason and Piper's 13-year-old son Alex asked.

The two parents rolled their eyes, "time to feed the bottomless pit," Jason laughed.

Annabeth and I exchanged a look, but our smiles quickly melted away when we heard Ana huffing in the kitchen.

We walked in to find her heating up pizza, obviously too hungry to wait for Annabeth to cook. She picked up the plate and started walking towards her room, "I believe you," she only glanced back when she said "I think." It's better than nothing. Annabeth shrugged.

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**A/N: I have an important question! I plan on going into more detail with Ana's teenage life and maybe have her go to Camp Half Blood with Zoe (Jason and Piper's kid) and have Jordan (Hazel and Frank's kid) and Alex (Zoe's brother) join them a year or two later since their younger. Anyways, I'm asking if I should CONTINUE THIS WITH THIS STORY OR START A NEW, SEPARATE ONE. Pleas review or pm me to let me know.**

**A/N: Book suggestion! STUNG BY BETHANY WIGGINS is a great book, my friends read it too (not with me). There's also a SEQUEL CALLED CURED which I just found out about. My friends will be so excited. Please, it's much like Divergent as well as the Hunger Games, and the whole concept it's based on is fantastic and completely original. I'm begging you to check it out, and maybe together we can get it on this website. I've also mentioned it on my other Percy Jackson story, Immortality, as well as my Twilight story, I Can't Exist Without You. **


	10. Progress?

**A/N: Yes, yes, you probably hate me. I had a weird unannounced hiatus. Now I'm going to make it up to you with a filler chapter. It's all I can do when I don't know what my reader's want. Remember, I could continue going along the path of Ana's teenage years on this story, or a start a new story that would be based on this one. Please tell me so we can move on.**

* * *

**Ana's POV **

I roll out of bed reluctantly, my hair a bird's nest as I walk to the kitchen and the sounds of sizzling bacon greets my ears. I love Saturdays, I always eat breakfast with my parents no matterwhat on Saturdays. In all my years they've never let me slip by with a piece of toast. Even when we got into a heated argument the day before about getting a new phone for me, my parents had still made me pancakes.

Maybe I should refrase that, my mom does all the cooking and my dad does all the cleaning. Mom handles the bills, Dad's my chauffer and they both help me with school. I close my eyes tightly when I see my mom in front of the stove creating those deliciously sizzling sounds, and my father standing behind her.

**Annabeth's POV**

The toast pops out of the toaster, Percy quickly buttering the golden slices, getting plates after he got done. I work on the heap of bacon while Percy retrieves a small pan from the cupboard. He starts to make his famous omelets, stuffing them all with cheese because we might as well be a family of mice. He flashes a pearly white grin at me and I roll my eyes.

"Hey, at least I can cook _something, _so it's not like I'm completely helpless." I smirk as he finishes the last of the cheesy omelet. He turns of his side of the stove, putting the pan in the sink for him to clean later. He wraps his arm around my waist, locking me in his grip.

I train my eyes on the crackling grease in front of me, trying to not burn our breakfast to a crisp due to a very tempting distraction. He moves my sloppy ponytail to my right shoulder, nipping up my neck. I move the pan, turning off the burner and give in. I lean into him, closing my eyes. He nibbles on my earlobe, and I feel him smile against my neck and I shiver.

Someone clears their throat obnoxiously, "gross PDA guys. You're my parents. Like, eww."

Percy slowly releases his desperate grip, "you've walked in on us, you can't stay that naïve forever."

Ana's nose scrunches up, her mused blond hair bounces as she shakes her head fiercely.

"Breakfast sweetheart." I laugh out, hading Percy and Ana their plates. I pick up my own as we gather at the table, the TV playing softly in the background.

Ana looks slightly uncomfortable and my mind flashes back to her icey additude she gave us before she went to bed. I let it slip because I knew she had next to no reason to believe us. She seems more relaxed, and the hope is crushing when I let myself assume that she's okay with it.

My fantasy of quiet acceptance seems distant as Ana's hazel eyes stare at her food intently, like she'll find all the answers in her half eaten toast.

"Ana," Percy asked tentatively, and Ana shook her head quickly like she already knew his unspoken question.

"We want to show you where we basically grew up," I tried, studying my daughter for any reaction at all.

She scrunched up her nose in confusion, "don't your parents live in your old house?" "Yes, but there's a place for people like your mother and I, people like you." Ana stares intently at Percy, her lips puckered.

Her eyebrows raise, "well, go on with it."

Percy rubs the back of his neck nervously, "well-"

I interrupt him, "it's called Camp Half Blood and it's like a summer camp for... demigods." I swallow loudly when I finish, but Ana's expression astonishes me, her eyes looking bright with _curiosity, _of all things. That's my girl.

She looks down at her now empty plate, "I'd like for you guys to stop lying to me. This would help." Her eyes are wide with sincerity, and I can hardly believe this young lady just turned 16. She's my baby girl, while at the same time she seems all grown up.

I reach across the table to clasp her hand, and she manages a weak smile, _good enough. _

I exchange a glance with Percy, gnawing my lip nervously.

"We only wanted what's best for..." Percy started, but he was quickly interrupted.

Ana wouldn't have it, shaking her head violently and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Harboring white lies aren't protecting me."

"Honey, being a demigod is dangerous. There's quests where you risk your life, and monsters constantly seek you out." My voice is getting desperate.

"Zoe was the first second-generation Greek demigod. The life was too dangerous. Camp is still trying to figure it out. We're just trying to take our time and do it right." Percy grabs Ana's hand, pleading with his eyes. Ana nods a little, shrugging her shoulders. She gets up to put the dishes away, and it's clear that the conversation is over.

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**A/N: I'm so sorry but this chapter is really just Jackson family fluff, and I promise there won't be anymore if you don't want it (I love it, but that's totally unrelated). I'm in a land lock guys without your feed back. I promise if you tell me to continue on this story or start a separate one, you won't be disappointed. Please just give me some feedback or suggestions!**

**A/N#2: A reminder, guys. Ana is currently 16, Jason and Piper have Zoe, who is 18, and Alex , who is 13. Hazel and Frank have Jordan, who is also 13.**


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